#1905Cottage Kitchen Reveal!!

And did I ever tell you why the kitchen reveal took so long?? When we took the bathroom floor up and looked underneath the cottage we discovered that the cottage’s sewer line was collapsed – so we had to get an entire new sewer line all the way to the street. And that costs thousands of dollars. It actually took my entire kitchen remodel budget and so I had to save that up again entirely. And that is why the kitchen was finished so much later than the main part of the house.

But it finally has been finished – and I am excited to share the details with you! As a very small space – the #1905Cottage has been really fun to work on. The kitchen is the biggest room in the house. But it still had it’s issues. When we bought the house the kitchen had a dropped down, grid ceiling, dropped doorways and an awkward design. So we came in and ripped it all apart to see what the bones of the room was. We discovered a hidden doorway, a much higher ceiling and doors and the last remaining original window in the house. Plus TONS of really cool wallpaper designs that had been used in the home over the past 100 years. Here’s what it looked like before:

And then here’s what it looked like during:

I knew I wanted to keep the room light and bright with white paint and white cabinets. I also decided to use hexagonal tile on the backsplash and take the backsplash all the way to the ceiling. Instead of upper cabinets on the main wall, I designed floating open shelves.

And on the other main walls I designed built-in cabinets for storage. And to keep with the history of the home, I decided to put in seeded glass in the storage cabinets in the kitchen.

I also spent the whole summer two summers ago sanding down the original hardwood floors in the #1905Cottage kitchen. I rented three different sanders to get the many layers of old linoleum and glue up off the floors. I know in the end that all of that effort was worth it. Now I look at those floors and I love seeing the character.

And another cool thing to know is that all of the original floors in the home are straight, pieces of pine without breaks. And that is hard to find now. So the ones in the kitchen are lengths of pine that are 20 feet in length.

For the island of the kitchen I wanted something that could be moved, just in case the space ever needed to be used for something different. So when I came across a discount Williams Sonoma island at our discount store DownEast Basics, I loved the marble top. And then I found out that it was discounted from $5,000 to $1,000 and then an additional 20% off – I knew it was perfect! My father-in-law built a shelf to go at the top of the island. I am hoping to find some baskets and keep kitchen basics inside.

For the knobs of the kitchen I fell in love with some pretty knobs from Threshold at Target. They have scalloped details that are so pretty!

We also planked the ceiling and I think it gives the room more character, and it also looks like it could have been done 100 years ago.

I spray painted a brass chandelier Sun Yellow and I love the POP of color the chandelier gives the room.

The cabinets are custom made. I was going to put in Ikea cabinets, but these custom cabinets only cost about 10% more and it saved us time in assembly. Plus I could design custom cabinets, like the wall of cabinets that camouflage an old flue in the home.

We brought up the doorways and arched them. And in the bathroom and bedroom we didn’t want to cover the original old doorways up, so we made DIY transoms for those rooms.

I just love this room. It really is the center of the cottage. And now that it is so bright and pretty, it’s really a space that I love and it makes the whole cottage happy and joyful!

Now this space is so light and bright. It’s been a joy to work on. I can’t wait for the next phase of this little house!

I really like your kitchen. Lovely transformation. If you know the right steps, you can make your renovation project much simple and stress-free. Even small changes can make a huge difference in the overall look of your kitchen.

I love, love , love your kitchen. Mine is done in gray and white with pops of yellow also. Can you tell me where you got your yellow dessert stand (I am assuming that is what it is called) Thanks so much
Donna!

I love it Jen! I love how you used different rugs in the space and now I can go freely into my living room and have unmatching rugs.. cause it has been giving me hissy fits! It’s just beautifulMichelle @ Michelle Lea Designs recently posted…DIY State Pillow

We found an original door and a window. They were both covered over with paneling. The door went through to the entryway and a closet there and the window was in a wall that backed to a little family room. We ended up taking that wall out and opening up the kitchen space and the little family room space. It really makes the whole house much more open which I love!

This project is so inspiring! I love the vision you had to update this very tired space into the perfect modern kitchen that still feels perfect for an old cottage. The cabinets are so gorgeous! And the tiles! And the lighting! I love it all 🙂Melissa @ A Prudent Life recently posted…3 Frugal Frame Updates- Craft Room Project #5

Looks so beautiful! Did I miss reading about if someone lives in this full time? I think it’s a remodel you are doing with no one in it, but then I saw all that food in the pantry…snacks for when you are working on it?capturing joy with kristen duke recently posted…How to make a Glitter Anchor Shirt

OMG I am loving the counter to ceiling backsplash tile – it is amazing. I so have been trying to figure out something in MY kitchen and that may just be the solution. Great idea & it looks amazing! Nice job. Such a fun place to hang out & work. 😉laura @ eye candy creative studio recently posted…COLLECTION DEBUT :: Rainbow Birthday Party

Thanks Laura! With the home being so small I really wanted to find ways to make the space seem bigger. So not having upper cabinets and extending the tile to the ceiling seemed like a good way to bring the eye up to the high ceilings visually. I did the same thing with the subway tile on two walls in the bathroom and I just love the way both rooms turned out.

HOLY-MOLY!!!!!! The kitchen is GORGEOUS. The whole cottage is simply amazing, actually. Talk about a LOT of work!!! I use to work in construction during the summer breaks, so I have an idea regarding the amount of work, love, & elbow grease you put into this cottage. I got tired just THINKING about all the work you did. Fabulous job, Jen. You’re Super Woman. 😀

Wow! It’s gorgeous! Very well done. I feel your pain on the whole sewer line thing. Something similar happened here, only it was foundation to the tune of $23,000 and we had already gutted our kitchen before we spent our entire remodel budget on something you will never see. We are getting ready to put in plywood countertops tomorrow to buy us some time to save up for granite. I think I will love them.Angela recently posted…Introducing:

Wow! It looks fabulous and I think you did such an amazing job keeping the original character and charm of the house!! Love your kitchen design completely! I adore the cabinets with the seeded glass doors….such a pretty detail that makes the kitchen really beautiful! Totally magazine worthy and it belongs in the pages of a high end magazine! You should be so very proud of all your hard work!! I love, love, love everything that you have done with the cottage! Angie xo

Love it Jen!! I’d love to know more about raising and arcing the doorways and the transom windows over doorways. Are they in another post? If not could you message me some details? We are redoing a 1910 home and I’d love to add some character and light flow in some of the doorways especially the short ones up in the bedrooms if possible and would love to know your process and any issues you may have ran in to. Thanks!Jessica @ Dear Emmeline recently posted…1910 Home Renovation: Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Design Board

The transoms and arched doorways are some of my favorite details of the house. I will write a post with those details. Thanks for asking. I am excited about your 1910 home remodel – that is so exciting!!

this looks amazing! I’ve been tinkering with the idea of painting our kitchen cabinets and after seeing how bright and light this kitchen is I’m sold…I’m totally going to do it. This is beautiful!Alicia @ thrifty and chic recently posted…How to fake a clean house …for those last minute visitors

Jen!!! The kitchen is SO FABULOUS!!!!!! I’m in love with every inch of it! We are in the process of picking out tile for the walls in our kitchen and new countertops. I want to go with a carerra marble because I love the clean look of it but I really like the counters you used in this kitchen, what are they? They look like marble but they are shinier.

I love how what you did in 2014 looks more original to the house than what you tore out! We recently finished remodeling a closet into a crafting space for me, but I didn’t get to do the pretty touches. I can just imagine how satisfying it must be to look at your finished product.Jill recently posted…My Craft Closet

Hi Jen, Your kitchen is adorable. It made me start scrolling through the rest of your blog and I found a guest post on sliding barn doors. However, none of the links work for Northwest Hospitality. Do you know if she has changed the name of her site? Thank you.

The detail in this kitchen is what has me drooling! I’m in love with this transformation! I love the tile…..the seeded glass…the ceiling…everything came together perfectly! Oh and I love the pops of yellow! Great job!
leelee @ paperbagstyling

I just love all the work you have been doing to the Cottage. I love how bright the kitchen is now, just love it! I feel like we are always doing a home renovation at our house. We plan on add trim to our windows this month and really hope things go well. Sorry about your sewer problems, we need to redo all our plumbing and electrical in our house. But your Cottage remodel gives me hope!Megan recently posted…Take out that framing

I absolutely love love love this!!! I am about to embark on a renovation of a 1950’s cottage and seeing your ideas and finished product has inspired me even more! Is there any way you can post a link to those adorable knobs/drawer pulls on your kitchen island? I am scouring the Target website and they are nowhere to be found. Thanks so much and keep the posts coming! 🙂

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